| Bob Brown |
Sep 20th, 2000 07:04 PM |
<BR>There is a slight variation on the site that Wes lists: <BR> http://www.hafas.de/index_e.html <BR>If you will look to the right side of the screen after you load it, you will see links to 4 systems. <BR>The German and the Swiss web schedules are the best. <BR>The last I looked, the Austrian site was only in German, but the German and Swiss sites have English versions and both are comprehensive. The British site is for trains in Britain only; typically insular. <BR>The French national train system, with those great TGV's, is at this location, in English: <BR> http://www.sncf.com/indexe.htm <BR>By the way, booking on the French system from here works. I reserved two seats on the TGV from Paris to Lausanne, Switzerland, over the web. I took my printout and got my tickets in Paris with little trouble. <BR>Unfortunately, the national sites to not give international fares as a general rule. You can get an indication from Rail Europe, but RE charges about 25% more for the same ticket. I paid 63.72 Euros per ticket, senior rate first class seat, for the trip from Paris to Lausanne. That comes out to about $55 per ticket at the rate of exchange in effect at the time. The senior rate knocked off about 25% and is available to anyone who can prove that he or she is over 62. |
